Living Between the Worlds

Prompt 175: Prey (For musing_way)

“You will beg me for death, Cheri. And I promise you that. And when at last Hsu and more importantly, I am satisfied with your answers and if and when I am feeling magnanimous, I will grant your request.”

Cheri shifted in the chair as much as her bonds would allow and then spat in Faelyn’s direction. The Unseele Comtesse’s face was an impenetrable masque.

"Your physical death will not release your surely tortured soul,” her voice low. “ However, you will not be seeing your father. You will not be able to tell him whether you were right or wrong. There shall be no pearly gates, no angels, nor paradise for you, lamb," at last Faelyn' tone was menacing, "Your torment will continue throughout the Seven Realms of existence." Faelyn took a small bladed knife and cut away the back collar of Cheri's garments. The poison was doing it's work. The young woman’s flesh had begun to blister. She was careful not to use too much. She would have a use for the Traitor's hide later. "In a way....you will be my calling card. Your manner of death - and unending torture in realm of the Unseen World will inform the rest of Watchers that the war that they started has now widened. All Hell has broken loose, and you and yours, my dear, are the ones responsible for that. Daddy would be ever so proud, I am certain."

The pain of the cuts had begun to register within Cheri’s mind. It was as if a curtain dropped had protectively inside her. Blinking she murmured, “I am not afraid. He will come and you will know fear. Only the weak let you get to them.”

"Not yet, little one, not yet..." Faelyn' voice returned to soothe and yet also cajole at the edge of Cheri’s consciousness. The skin was coming off of her rather easily now, it was thinner than eelskin, and once prepared by Fae hands, it would be finer and rarer too. The fact that the animal who was being relieved of it’s pelt was alive could only add to it’s fineness. Faelyn’s skill with both flensing and Fae blades was nothing short of extraordinary. That she could keep control of them even through the blood and struggle. Being able to extract the skin in an accordian like fashion so that came in one, long uninterrupted piece was a definite source of pride. No strain showed on her face and she seemed to anticipate both the voluntary and involuntary spasms of the young Traitor. Faelyn did not even seem at all preterbed that her fingers as well as the floor and her garments were now both stained and slicked with blood.

By the time that Cheri’s consciousness seemed to begin to give way, Hsu had extracted probably about as much information as the hapless young woman could possibly have had. Soft mewling between words, perhaps tears, that could have possibly moved the Fae woman at any other time, for indeed this creature was to be pitied, did not move her now. The glimmer in her eyes made it quite apparent that she was feasting on the pain of this woman. Such chances to let loose her cruelties were rare.

When Cheri began speaking of the one that would come, Faelyn smiled, and spoke in her way, “Of course he will come,” she murmured. Faelyn reached out to the girl’s mind, pushed her way into the defenses and nestled there like a cat against a warm woodstove.

“But who’s to say he hasn’t come already? Your father knew that it would end this way.” Faelyn glanced up at Hsu, her tone was suggestive and hypnotic, drawing the consciousness of the woman away from and out of her body as if to relieve her just long enough, only to then drop her awareness back into her pain wracked body once again. It was an Unseelie techique which Faely clearly enjoyed. Cheri would break. Faelyn didn’t care if she had to put the little bitch in salt water in a primitive form of suspended animation for a full thirty days in order to hammer that point home.

Hsu came to stand close to Faelyn, admiring her work. "Exquisite, my Lady," he whispered to her. Fingers ran over the flayed area, brushing over sinew and exposed nerve endings. Seeing that peace Faelyn lifted her to sudden come crashing back down into pain was pure pleasure, and he smiled at his Anam Cara. He let his mouth brush close to her ear and whispered to her, as if he had been reading her mind. "Break her for me, Faelyn, he all but purred, “ Into little pieces." Hsu raised his voice just enough so that Cheri might overhear, even as he addressed the Fae. "Let the real girl speak to me.”

Hsu’s breath was warm against her neck, niggling and it pulled at her. Even through the haze of her Unseelie delirium, it thrilled her erotically. She not only loved the sound of Hsu’s voice and what he said, but exactly how he said the things that he did to her. Faelyn vowed to herself that she would, after the interrogation of the Traitor, get him alone and to herself. An alpha female, no matter what her species, be she Human, Wolf or Fae - always would seek out a worthy alpha male. Faelyn had only ever found two whom she truly considered worthy of her, and Hsu Danmei was definitely one.

The younger woman flopped out of her chair like a fish that was being cleaned before being fully dead. Cheri flailed and slid in the pool of her own blood, wild-eyed and delirious. Gone was the programmed woman-child, crumbling and falling away was the hastily or carefully crafted facade. Her pleas and cries were indicative of the device that Golding had used to guarantee the woman’s obedience. Even with the evidence of this cruelty revealed, Faelyn did not relent. She reached back into the girl’s mind again, calling magic to herself, tearing aside the constructs Golding had wrought and implanting her own.

“Come, child, come - , ” The High Lady of the Fortunate Island’s voice soothed as she righted the girl, putting her in her chair, the hands that momentarily comforted and smoothed away panic. Of course she could not possibly have ever done this to her, “of course you may have her back. Yes, that’s it.... Golding is no longer here. He cannot find you here. You are in my realm now."

Faelyn did not lie. Cheri's mind was in her realm now. The thoughts being sent to Cheri’s mind were warm, inviting, they were woven with Fae magic that was abundant with wonderment. The heavy scent of flowers, and peace were everywhere. There was calm in the fields where all manner of Fae and Elfin creatures and humans interacted and enjoyed. It was the dream of every adult and child and every human. It was the mystical ideal since time began. There was safety here, safety and the freedom from pain. She felt Cheri begin to relax, to trust. Clearly the Traitor had not realized that behind each of these sensory delights that covered her overloading consciousness was something darker, more sinister. Yes, Faelyn, mused, she would break Cheri’s body as well as her mind and when she had done that .....well, she smiled, fighting off the desire to immediately break the girl into small pieces before Hsu’s eyes. It would be the gift that she intended to make of the last details which pleased Faelyn the most.

Faelyn drug her eyes up to Hsu's. She knew this gaze. Her Anam Cara and Warlord's patience had now ended. There was only the yawning maw of death that awaited the traitorous woman.

There was a familiarity within Cheri's pleas to Faelyn; having had to give her own daughter, Maeve, up a mere four days after her birth to the Land of the Tuatha du Dannan, to King Nuada to raise. Faelyn shook off the momentary twinge at the unbidden memory. She would not let the slinter get through. Besides, even with her best magicks, even if she wanted to, Faelyn could not - would not - spare this woman.

"Now, my Lord?" Faelyn asked. "I can make complete her unmaking now, if you wish. What comes after her death....." her voice trailed off. She did not have to tell Hsu that the Traitor's undoing would be complete that not even her soul would escape.

"Oui Madame." She casts a look about the room. "I shall set out a mop and cleaning supplies for after the disposal of ah, the item. Do you wish me to contact the isle for the cleaners? Or is there someone here who takes care of such things?"

*slight curtsy* "Well then, if you and your other guest are up for it, I shall go prepare a light repast, and put out some wine to air for a midnight snack. You look as if you have worked up quite an... appetitie my Lady. Perhaps a bath, or shower before eating?"